Back on Track

It's been a long road to recovery back here, and a longer road to being able to write about food so much!  For so long food became the enemy.... something that I had to bribe my husband to try again, or convince him to eat or drink.  At least food has reached a happy medium again where he is eating happily and all the foods that were just bad chemo reminders have faded to the point he can eat them again.

At some point I'll blog about the food findings for chemo patients.... but I'll tell you this.... feeding a chemo patient requires a lot of patience!

But let this be a blog post marking a new beginning.  I have some recipes on the go, and I shall post the first of them shortly.

I also have another blog- on health and fitness over on tumblr.  Feel free to follow along:
Moving It - The Blog

Minestrone by Necessity

All year, my husband has been sick in one form or another.  First with chemotherapy, then the reaction to the chemo, and now the recovering from the solid destruction the treatment has taken on his stomach and intestines.  Less than ideal. 

However, 2 things have come out of it.  I have become a walking expert on cancer related medications, and foods to prepare.  I have an astounding array (okay, 3) books on cooking for cancer, or at least, cooking to avoid cancer and a growing notebook of ideas, guidance and foods that he likes, combined with anti-carcinogenic properties.  (I told you I was getting good with the terminology).

But now he is on the mend, it is time for a new regime.  He has never been a soup fan, sadly, as I ADORE the stuff.  However, as he has been recovering, his soups have been becoming more solid, and more interesting. 

Did I mention he tends to hate food the second time around?  Again, different from me.  I LOVE leftovers.  I know where I stand with leftovers.  I can see that there are so many meals, or parts of a meal remaining.  So I had been using those convenient cans-of-soup-for-one for him.  Until I ran out!  So disorganized in the chaos.

And now to the point of this entry, I needed a filling soup, high in cancer fighting ingredients, and fast.  Almost-instant minestrone came as a tasty flash.

The Almost-Instant recipe

From the pantry:
- 5 bean mix (canned)
- Spiral pasta
- Tomato pasta sauce with garlic

From the garden
- Zucchini
- Fresh basil
- Leek
- Onion

From the freezer/fridge
- Vegetable broth
- Frozen mixed vegies

Into a medium saucepan on a low heat, throw 1/2 cup of vegetable broth.  I had this leftover from a soup earlier in the week.  Also add a handful of pasta (I keep an airtight container of pasta remnants, you know, those last bits that don't get cooked).

Rinse about 3 tablespoon fulls of the bean mix under cold water.  The brine is just awful in soup.  Throw the beans into the soup.

Add a handful of frozen mixed vegetables.  This will drop the temperature, but shouldn't stop the boiling at this point.

Cut 2 slices of onion and 4 slices of leek into small pieces, and dice the small zucchini.  Throw this in with the soup.

Add 1/2 cup of pasta sauce and chopped basil.  Season with salt and pepper.  Allow soup to boil until the pasta is cooked. 

Spoon half the saucepans worth into a bowl.  Add boiling water and stir to a pleasing consistency.  Serve.

The remaining bit can be refrigerated or frozen for use later on. 

I meant to photograph the soup, but both meals were eaten so quickly.  However, I still have leftovers to make more from scratch if need be.

Juicing for Well-Being

Since the diagnosis (the husband was diagnosed with Stage 3 Colon Cancer about 6 weeks ago, and has since undergone surgery to remove 60cm of his colon) I have been juicing up a storm.

Basically I started juicing fruit and vegetables because he didn't like to eat them... crazy!  I'm a vegetarian, so basically the idea of not eating vegetables is abhorrent to me.  Now he even likes cauliflower... oddly.  Thank goodness for a great doctor, excellent surgeon, and a series of cancer episodes on Doctor Oz.  (In other news, I have been reading and cooking from Anti-cancer cookbooks...)

Anyway, juice is awesome, and pretty darn easy to make.  I actually think it is rather affordable.  We grow a lot of vegetables and the citrus trees are doing really well at the moment.  Almost all the different juices I make have either lemons or celery in at the moment because we have them growing nicely.

Here is one of my favourites at the moment: Pineapple, Lemon and Carrot Juice.

You will need:
4 Carrots
3cm of a Pineapple
1 large Lemon

Wash the carrots, chopping off the top bit where the fronds grow from.  Wash the lemon skin.  Cut a circular round of pineapple about 3cm wide.  Cut the lemon in half and the pineapple section in quarters.  Throw all the bits of fruit, skin still on, into the juicer.  Stir the juice.

This should make about 2 large glasses of juice.  I always serve with 2 ice-cubes.  Drink as soon as possible, but the lemon should prevent discolouration if you have to refrigerate for a bit.

And the benefits... Among others of course, but the reasons I use these are...

Lemon juice is really high in Vitamin C, and is great for moving things through the bowels... as well as having loads of anti-oxidants which help fight cancer. 

Pineapple juice is really good for joint health and mobility (I struggle with my ankle after surgery last year, and basically I'm preparing for surgery next month).  Really good for dealing with disgusting nasties in the digestive and intestinal tracts.   And for sorting out constipation... as our goal here is to have nothing hanging around in the colon, this is excellent....  (you may notice I am trying not to be too specific, as it is all pretty darn gross).

And carrots, oh the super food that is the carrot!  Carrots are high in all the vitamins, especially C and E, really good for clearing the intestines and dealing with harmful bacteria.  Indian healers have been using carrots for thousands of years to help patients recover from illness, so it can't be bad.  That, and I like carrots.